Tagged: Image Comics

Interview: Neil Kleid on ‘Worlds of Dungeons and Dragons’

Interview: Neil Kleid on ‘Worlds of Dungeons and Dragons’

  • News
  • June 24, 2008

Writer and Xeric Grant winner Neil Kleid has come a long way since he wrote his award-winning improvised comic Ninety Candles. Since that time, he’s managed to have a diverse and interesting writing career tackling various comic book titles such as G.I. Joe and X-Men Unlimited.

Recently, he’s signed on to help bring Devil’s Due Publishing’s upcoming series The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons to eager comics fans. ComicMix caught up with the busy author to get the latest info on Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, his other upcoming projects and his love of axes.

COMICMIX: How much did you know about Dungeons & Dragons before you started writing the comic book? Did you ever play the game growing up?

NEIL KLEID: Once or twice, as a kid. I was mostly into the Bard’s Tale videogame and the early Dragonlance books. When I did play, I was always a dwarf. I liked the axes.

I’d stopped reading the DL books years ago, but my pal Andrew Dabb’s been adapting them for Devil’s Due for a while now and so, to check out his work, I’d flip through them at the store and I kind of got hooked again. I’m mostly into the books that focus on the characters from the War of the Lance.

CMix: What attracts you to a project like Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons in the first place?

NK: Intriguing characters, creepy monsters, short, condensed stories. Also, free rein and choice. Good editors. Stories I liked when I was younger that strike a chord inside.

CMix: How did this project first come about and how did you get involved?

NK: I’d been talking to the folks at Devil’s Due for a while now, trying to set something up with them – specifically with the G.I. Joe license. I had a meeting with former editor Mark Powers a few years
back and then traded several emails with current editor Mike O’ Sullivan. We always talked about the possibility of doing something together.

Then, Dabb mentioned they were looking for new D&D writers just as Mike emailed asking if it was something I’d be interested in. He hooked me up with editor James Lowder and we ran through the types of stories I wanted to do, narrowing it down to "The Legacy." It’s been a lot of fun so far.

CMix: This is your first time doing something in the sword-and-sorcery genre, right? This comic seems like new territory for you based on your previous work.

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Happy Birthday: Al Gordon

Happy Birthday: Al Gordon

  • News
  • June 22, 2008

Born in San Francisco in 1953, Alan “Al” Gordon is actually the second comic book artist by that name—the first, who is no relation, was active in the 1950s and worked for Atlas Comics, Lev Gleason Publications, Toby Comics, and Trojan Comics.

The second Alan Gordon started out in the mid-1970s, working as a penciler and inker for independent publisher Star Reach. He began inking for Marvel in 1978, first freelancing on Captain America and then becoming the regular inker on Spider-Woman. In 1982 Gordon left Marvel for DC and began working on Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.

He worked for Eclipse Comics next before going back to Marvel and inking Fantastic Four and other books. In 1987 Gordon began working on Justice League of America with Kevin Maguire and Keith Giffen.

A few years later he followed Giffen to Legion of Super Heroes, and even wrote four issues of the series. In 1992 Gordon created WildStar for Image Comics—Jerry Ordway penciled it and Gordon wrote, inked, edited, and produced it.

More recently he worked with Alan Moore at America’s Best Comics. In 2000 Gordon won two Eisner Awards, one for Tom Strong #1 and one for Tom Strong #4-7.

Leaked ‘Iron Man’ Photo Now Subject of Lawsuit

Leaked ‘Iron Man’ Photo Now Subject of Lawsuit

  • News
  • June 20, 2008

When movie site IESB.net posted one of the first images of the Iron Man suit last May, to say that the leaked photo from the set of Iron Man created a bit of a buzz might be the understatement of the year.

It didn’t take long, however, for the studios involved with the film to direct their full legal attention to the movie news site, forcing it to shut down for a period of time and generating an entirely different kind of buzz.

Well, it seems like the legal tussle over the photo will have yet another chapter, as attentive members of the Iron Man audience might have noticed a familiar image on the front page of a newspaper Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is reading in a scene near the end of the film. Photographer Ronnie Adams, who shot the initial "leaked" Iron Man photo that started all of the hub-bub, is now alledging that the movie studios used his infamous photo in a "pivotal scene" during Iron Man, and is asking for unspecified monetary damages.

Adams filed a lawsuit regarding the photo last week against Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, and also asked that the photo be removed from any future DVDs or videogames related to Iron Man.

Full-size versions of the original, "leaked" image and the offending Iron Man scene (according to Adams’ lawsuit) are posted after the jump for comparison.

(via pdnonline)

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Happy Birthday: Hilary Barta

Happy Birthday: Hilary Barta

  • News
  • June 17, 2008

Born in 1957, Hilary Barta began his comic book career in 1982 when he was hired at Marvel to help ink The Defenders #108. In 1984 he moved to First Comics to ink Warp, and slowly graduated to penciling as well. In 1988, after work for Eclipse, Marvel, and First, Barta launched both Marvel’s What The—?! and DC’s Plastic Man.

He has penciled and inked many other books for Marvel, DC, Malibu Comics, Image Comics, Bongo Comics, Dark Horse, and others. He’s best known for his slightly surreal, humorous style, which you’ll be seeing on several upcoming Munden’s Bar stories!

Foo Fighters to Develop ‘The Amazing Joy Buzzards’ Music?

Foo Fighters to Develop ‘The Amazing Joy Buzzards’ Music?

  • News
  • June 13, 2008

The Amazing Joy Buzzards has been an under-the-radar favorite of mine for quite a while now, so it was nice to see the series’ name appear on this week’s list of releases. Apparently, Image Comics is publishing a new "director’s cut" of the first volume of the superhero rock band’s adventures, titled "Here Come the Spiders."

Matt Brady has posted an interview with Mark Andrew Smith and Dan Hipp, who write and provide the art for the series, respectively.

During the interview, Smith drops this piece of information that made me even more fond of the series — and its (potential) future:

We’re always quiet on what the Amazing Joy Buzzards sound like because every reader plugs their own favorite band into the spot. But soon we might have an Amazing Joy Buzzards cartoon in the works with the Foo Fighters involved developing their sound so eventually for film and animation they will actually have a sound if all goes well.

Foo Fighters, eh? Here’s the part when I say, "Rock on."

For the rest of the interview, head over to Brady’s website.

[UPDATE – June 19, 2008: Mark Andrew Smith recently contacted ComicMix to clarify that nothing is finalized regarding the Foo Fighters or the band’s involvement with anything related to Amazing Joy Buzzards. The text of the interview on Matt Brady’s website has been edited to remove any reference to the band’s involvement, as the terms of any agreement with Foo Fighters or other entities are still under discussion. We have preserved the excerpt of the original interview here, in the interest of maintaining transparency. -RM]

The Simpsons Meet Dragonball?

The Simpsons Meet Dragonball?

To be filed under "I Don’t Know Where It Came From But I Like It," this image of characters from the popular Dragonball anime and manga series (and upcoming live-action film) drawn up a la The Simpsons recently popped up on the InterWebs.

While it’s safe to assume Simpsons creator Matt Groenig had no hand in the creation of this piece, it’s nice to see that the "Simpsonizing" thing is still going strong.

I’ve posted a larger version of the image after the jump.

Oh, and read our past coverage of the Dragonball live-action film here.

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Marvel Offices Art Tour

Marvel Offices Art Tour

Over at Marvel.com, the publisher’s "Spy in the House" blogger Agent M recently posted the first in what he says will be an ongoing series of photos from around the company’s Manhattan office, spotlighting the art on display.

For the first piece of art, he’s posted a photo of an Iron Man print, of course:

But this image by the legendary French artist Moebius (Jean Giraud) blows my mind every time I see it. It’s weird, creepy, super-detailed and alien and I love. I don’t know if it’s just a poster/pin-up or it was actually published in a comic, but there are a few other Moebius Marvel posters out there in this style (that we don’t have here, as far as I know) and I still dig this one the most.

Like Agent M, I’ve never been a big fan of Iron Man, but I’m equally impressed with this piece of art. Here’s hoping he continues this series. I’d love to see a few more pieces like this from around the Merry Marvel HQ.

Check out the full post on Marvel.com. I’ve posted a larger version of the image after the jump.

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New ‘Watchmen’ Film Image Released – Meet the Minutemen!

New ‘Watchmen’ Film Image Released – Meet the Minutemen!

Aint It Cool News posted a new image from the big-screen adaptation of Watchmen today, and its a pretty impressive one.

The image features a 1940s-style photograph of "The Minutemen," the precursor to the superteam that came to be known as The Watchmen.

From AICN:

Who are the Minutemen? Well in WATCHMEN – it was the first TEAM of superheroes that formed in 1939 and pulled a BEATLES in 1949. In the pic below you’ll see the classic SILK SPECTRE and NITE OWL… you’ll see CAPTAIN METROPOLIS, MOTHMAN, SILHOUETTE, COMEDIAN, DOLLAR BILL and with the noose… HOODED JUSTICE.

I love this photo… just look at those costumes, the hairstyles and makeup. Isn’t that classic? It’s that attention to detail that I think bodes very well for this project. Cuz with WATCHMEN, the devil’s in the details.

 I’ve posted a full-size version of the image after the jump, but head over to AICN for the full story.

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‘Punisher War Zone’ Teaser Poster Released

‘Punisher War Zone’ Teaser Poster Released

Punisher War Zone won’t be hitting theaters until December, but that’s not about to stop the marketing machine at Lions Gate from advertising it. The first poster for the film has been released and, well, it’s about what you’d expect. The Punisher loves bullets and he loves skulls, so why not combine the two?

It looks like an image ready made for a shirt at Hot Topic, if it isn’t already on sale there already. At least the poster lets us know that lots of bullets will be fired in the film. Will there be anymore parking ticket antics with fire hydrants like in the last Punisher movie though?

Punisher War Zone hits theaters on December 5. The film stars Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle/The Punisher, Dominic West as Jigsaw and Wayne Knight as Microchip.

(via UGO)

Piling It On, by Mike Gold

Piling It On, by Mike Gold

With great power comes… bloggers.

One of the first lessons I learned writing an Internet column – both here and on my soon-to-be-revived political rant Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind – is also the first lesson I learned when I started on radio shortly after Marconi found the electricity outlet: if you say it, some people will buy it. Either way, if it’s big enough people will debate it.

Joey Goebbels had some success with this concept… for a while.

We here at ComicMix strive for responsibility, and in that spirit I’ve had a great many column ideas that I rejected simply because they weren’t true. Oh, sure, I thought about selling them to Michael Davis, but then it dawned on me I can squeeze this column out of my spiked copy. Ergo, without further ado, here’s a bunch of columns I won’t get around to writing.

•     •     •     •     •

Oh, sure, Marvel rebooted Spidey to much loathing, but the reboot sells and if there’s one concept in comics that is engraved in stone it’s this: “Fool ‘em once, make big money. Fool ‘em twice and they’ll double-bag it.” In this spirit, Marvel has announced two exciting new projects.

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